The Silent Pool (43 page)

Something didn't make sense to Erasmus. Why would Dan be meeting Jenna? He had told Erasmus to drop the case. He had no link to Jenna unless it was something personal? Erasmus told himself he was exhausted, looking for things that just weren't there.

‘They are fine but they've gone to the hospital for a check up. How's Pete?’

‘He was shot but he'll live. He's a hero.’

‘Jesus.’

‘And the police, have you told them yet?’ asked Dan.

‘Not yet. I called them and they are on the way. I figure that we may need to go to another force. Bovind has Third Wavers in the Merseyside Police, I saw the cordon just evaporate at the march. Only an order from high up could get that done.’

Dan nodded. ‘Very wise.’

‘I've got the Pastor, Bovind's personal preacher, trussed up inside. He would have killed Abby and Miranda.’

‘Christ,’ said Dan. ‘I'll go and check he's still secure.’

Dan disappeared inside the house.

Erasmus smiled at Jenna. He didn't know how he felt about anything. He loved Miranda and he would do anything in his power to make things right but he knew, deep down, that that part of his life was over. Did Jenna represent a possible future?

The corners of Jenna's mouth began to turn upwards but then suddenly dropped. She looked ashen faced. She was looking at something behind Erasmus.

‘What's up?’ he asked.

Erasmus turned around. The Pastor, a thin smile on his bloodied lips, was standing in the doorway with Dan.

‘There are none so blind as those who cannot see.’

Dan, visibly shaking, was holding a revolver and pointing it straight at Erasmus.

‘Dan, what the fuck are you doing?’

‘All of you get in the car now. Erasmus, you are driving.’

Erasmus moved forward ready to try and grab the gun. Dan let off a round, sparks flying next to Erasmus’ feet.

‘I would do as he says,’ said the Pastor. ‘Dan is one of our more personally committed members of the church but he doesn't have our training.’

Erasmus stood his ground.

Dan pointed the gun at Jenna's head.

‘No!’ said Erasmus.

‘In the car, now!’ shouted Dan.

Erasmus saw that Dan's hands were trembling and his eyes darting around rapidly. He thought Dan was on some kind of drug, and while that wouldn't explain what he was doing it definitely made the situation worse.

The Pastor held up his switchblade that Erasmus had left on the table.

Curtains were twitching in the close but nobody was foolish enough to step out. It had been ten minutes since he had called the police but no patrol car or even the sound of an approaching car could be heard. Erasmus guessed that all available units were probably tied up in town dealing with the fallout from the marches. Or his call had fallen into the hands of a Third Waver who had failed to log it.

Erasmus took Jenna's hand. ‘Come on,’ he whispered. ‘We have to go.’

She nodded.

Dan sat in the front passenger seat and ordered Erasmus to drive. The Pastor sat next to Jenna in the rear and held the switchblade to her slender neck.

Erasmus looked in the rear-view mirror. The Pastor's long index finger was caressing the handle and the top of the blade.

‘Where to?’ said Erasmus.

‘Just drive towards the docks. I'll tell you when we get there.’

Dan was sweating heavily.

‘Is this for money Dan?’

‘Shut the fuck up. You wouldn't understand!’

‘Tell me, how does the Third Wave look upon drug taking and whoring?’

‘People like you don't get it, do you. I believe in God, I believe in the Third Wave. Yeah, I'm a sinner, it's true, but it's a battle and I need to do this for my soul, so if you say another word I will shoot her in the leg. Turn left at the next lights.’

Things started to make sense to Erasmus.

‘You've been working for Bovind from the start. It was you who got me involved in the case, it was you who told him about the tape. Christ, let me guess, you've been promised a free pass wiping away all your sins, are you thick or what?’

There were tears in Dan's eyes. ‘Fuck you! I know what will happen to me if I don't repent, make amends for what I have done. Helping to rescue this city, this country from the Muslims, the militant atheists is God's work. It's real.’ Dan nodded towards the Pastor.

‘Repentance is better assurance of pardon than the testimony of an angel,’ said the Pastor from the rear of the car.

Erasmus checked the mirror. The knife point remained on Jenna's jugular.

‘He will kill us, you know, Dan. Where does murder sit with you as a Christian?’

‘Not another fucking word. Just drive!’

Erasmus drove in silence. He didn't trust Dan not to accidently shoot them he was so wired. They were heading into south Liverpool. Dan directed Erasmus into Sefton Park and eventually told Erasmus to pull up in a car park next to the park's main entrance.

‘I am going to have this gun on her the whole time, Erasmus, if you make a move I will shoot her. Now get out of the car.’

Erasmus stepped out of the car. Behind him the Pastor and Jenna got out. The Pastor had placed a coat over his hand shielding the knife at her ribs. He gripped Jenna close to him like they were lovers taking a stroll.

‘Start walking. Head towards the Palm House,’ said Dan.

Erasmus began to walk. The Pastor and Jenna stayed five yards back. The park was fairly empty for a Saturday, the chilly weather putting off all but the hardiest of walkers and joggers. Erasmus considered whether he had any options. He may well get to Dan but not without the Pastor plunging the switchblade between Jenna's ribs first.

‘What do you think is going to happen, Dan? Everyone who knows about Bovind's past will be dead apart from you. You will just be a loose end.’

‘You don't believe in anything. You wouldn't understand. There is more than this life.’

‘You revel in this life, you gorge on it. You only believe this fairy-tale stuff because your parents told you it was true. Don't do this, Dan.’

‘Shut the fuck up, Erasmus, and keep walking.’

Two joggers approached: a man and a woman both wearing headphones.

‘One word and she dies,’ whispered Dan.

The joggers barely gave them a glance as they passed by.

Within a few hundred yards they had passed the lake and walked up a slight incline to the Palm House. Erasmus had been to the Palm House for a wedding reception some months before and he had been captivated by its beauty and elegance. It had been restored to its full Victorian grandeur a few years back and was very much in demand for functions. A Saturday would normally guarantee a wedding among the Palms. But not today.

As he got closer Erasmus saw a sign on the glass front door: RESERVED – THE THIRD WAVE.

‘Open the door,’ said Dan.

Erasmus opened the door and walked into the Palm House. He was struck right away by the temperature change. It was at last 5 degrees warmer inside. Magnificent palms, some towering to the roof of the building lined the side of the walkway that led from the door into the centre of the Palm House.

‘Keep walking,’ said Dan.

The path was lined with exotic palms and lush tropical plants that grew either side and towered over the walkway. After thirty yards of this the walkway opened out into a dining area set with maybe twenty large tables each set for a silver service dinner. There was a dais at the end of the space. Sitting in a chair on the dais was Kirk Bovind. Next to him tied, bound and gagged in another chair was Rachel.

Bovind saw them and waved them forward. It was like he was greeting old friends. There was an incongruous sense of bonhomie in his actions.

‘Thank you, Dan, your soul is a good soul and you will enter the kingdom of heaven to sit at his side.’

‘What Jesus reserves a special place for murderers, does he? I thought that place had an entirely different name?’ said Erasmus.

Bovind waved his hand airily. ‘I don't intend to discuss theological matters with you. You are an atheist and your soul is not your own.’

‘What the fuck do you want with us? The game's up. The Mayor has called time on you and your grip on this city and I can prove you killed Tomas Radzinski. And tried to kill my wife, child and all those people today!’

Bovind began to laugh. ‘Oh you can, can you? Let's see shall we. I see it rather differently and so I think will the police. You have a history of mental illness and violence, you killed Father Michael because he ruined your career, and then you killed your wife and daughter because she had taken a new lover. This will be arranged, I assure you, Erasmus. There was no explosion today, the Mayor is in rude health although the tabloid stories about his drug and prostitute use will destroy him within the week and then we will need a new mayor, maybe one from a prestigious local law firm.’ He gestured towards Dan.

‘No one will believe you, Bovind!’

‘Really? There will be no other version of events. After you sent Miranda and Abby to hospital you came here to kill me. Your irrational hatred of the Third Wave culminating in an attempt on my life. Luckily for me Dan arrived and wrestled the gun from you, unfortunately killing you in the process. Dan, you will be a hero, no doubt something the press will fixate upon, as they do.’

Erasmus turned and looked at Dan. ‘He's talking about killing Miranda and Abby, are you OK with that? Does that suit a higher purpose?’

Dan looked down and as he did so Jenna pulled away from him.

‘What did you do with Stephen, you bastard?’

Dan went to grab her.

‘Let her be, Dan.’ Bovind raised his right hand, a momentary look of confusion on his face. ‘I don't think you understand. I have been looking for Stephen. He is responsible for these murders.’

Jenna sobbed.

‘Whatever fate has befallen Stephen you bear responsibility, Jenna. Once I received the letters I had the boys followed. I thought there was a blackmail conspiracy, a plot to bring me down. Which, of course, there was, I was just looking in the wrong place. But I intended to pay them off, threaten them, not kill them – that would be too obvious, the connection too strong. It became clear to me that I was being set up by forces hostile to the Lord's works. I believed, believe, it was Stephen who was trying to frame me. Now I understand it was you, Jenna.’

Bovind was standing on the steps of the dais, his arms stretched out cross-like.

He turned to Dan. ‘Kill them.’

The Pastor stepped away from Jenna and Erasmus and stood by Dan. He moved in close and whispered something softly in Dan's ear.

Dan raised the gun and pointed it at Erasmus. His hand was shaking as he did so.

Erasmus raised his right hand, the palm facing towards Dan. ‘Dan, don't do this, we are friends.’

Rachel threw herself off her chair but just lay writhing on the floor. Dan turned to look. Bovind looked amused.

‘Now, Dan,’ said Bovind.

‘Do it,’ said the Pastor.

‘I'm sorry, Erasmus. I've lived my life as a sinner, I have to follow his word now.’

Dan had started to cry.

Erasmus shut his eyes. Jenna screamed, but there was no shot, just a hollow crunching sound and then a thud.

He opened his eyes and saw Dan lying lifeless on the floor. A wooden stake protruded from the side of his head.

The palms moved and a figure emerged. Erasmus recognised the man immediately: it was the man who had tortured him, the man he had seen in the crowd, the man he had beseeched to follow him at Father Michael's church, the dead man, Tomas Radzinski. His jet-black eyes were fixed on one thing only: Bovind. He carried a length of thin black leather in his right hand. It moved and twisted like a snake in his hand.

The Pastor, alarm in his grey eyes, moved quickly and raised his knife. In doing so he turned his back on Erasmus.

Erasmus ran forward and wrapped his left arm around the Pastor's neck. With his right hand he grabbed hold of the side of the Pastor's head and twisted the neck quickly and violently. There was a loud crack as the Pastor's neck snapped.

Erasmus threw the Pastor's limp body to the floor.

‘I have come for him,’ said Tomas pointing towards Bovind. ‘Step aside.’

Erasmus put his arm around Jenna and took a step back, letting him pass.

Bovind's shiny skin had paled and looked like that of a freshly butchered pig. Erasmus could see Bovind's cosmetic surgery scar lines standing out like tiny white veins and there was terror in his eyes.

‘Dead, you're dead.’

Tomas stepped onto the dais.

‘Hello Kevin.’

Bovind shrank from the man.

‘Tomas, you died! It was an accident!’

The man was standing over Bovind now.

‘Am I not a good Christian now, Kirk, raised from the dead like your saviour?’

‘But, but how?’

‘How did I not drown? I do not know, but I know it was not fate or the Lord protecting me, it was the same blind chance that killed my parents. I woke on the shore and I ran. When even your protectors are your persecutors what else is there to do?’

‘But why now?’

‘I have lived far away from here for many years. I fell in love and married. My wife made me promise never to seek revenge. I promised her that and I was true to my promise. She is gone now. She prayed and prayed but your Lord didn't save her. How could He? He couldn't save my parents, He couldn't save me, He couldn't save your friends. Let us see if He can save you.’

Bovind began to cry, tears slipping quickly down the marble surface of his skin.

‘I've got money, I can pay anything you want, what do you want?’

Tomas paused a few feet away from the cowering Bovind

‘I want you to answer a question that you and your friends screamed at me again and again as you brutalised me. You punished me for my truthful answer, what other answer could I give but the truth?’

Bovind's lips started trembling and a dark stain covered his trousers.

‘Do you believe?’

Bovind's mouth moved but no words came. He shook his head and then nodded and then shook it again. Erasmus could see Bovind's thought process writ large in those darting eyes. What answer would save him? If he denied his faith would he be allowed to live?